Patty forming machine



Jan. 8, 1935. w. F. SHELGREN PATTY FORMING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Jan 21. 1933 I I'll v Z/TFfiZeZare I Jan. 8, 1935. w. F. SHELGREN1,987,029

PATTY FORMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 21, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Jan.8, 1935 mm FORMING MACHINE Walter F. ,Shelgren, "Bradford, Pa.

6 Application January 21, 1933, Serial No. 652,916

Claimsf (01, 107-8 .lhis invention relates to an improvedpatty formingmachine and while being particularly designed'for forming rawhamburgpatties, still, I donot wish to be limited in thisxrespect as the 5machine is well adapted for i the dispensing of other edibles. I g n Theinvention seeks, as one; of its principal objects,,to provide amachine'which m'ay be used in restaurants or lunchrooms or onlunchwagons or the like for easily and quicklyfdispensing raw, hamburgpatties ready to be 'cookedwithout. the necessity for manually forming"thepattiesl The invention seeks, as a further object-to pro I vide amachine which will dispense raw hamburg patties of uniform size andweight, whereinthe ground meat will'be protected against contamination-and wherein-the machine maybe readily taken; apart and cleaned soas to be maintained in-"a thoroughly sanitary condition. I

And the invention seeks, as a still further object, to provide a machinewhichwill be characterized by structuralsimplicity, sturdiness anddurability as well as ease of operation.

Other I n not specifically mentioned in the foregoing, will be apparent"during the course of the following description. 6 In the drawings,Figure1 is of my improved'machine, 6 I

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view on the line 2-20fFigure1,

- Figure 3 is a transverse line 3+3 of Figure 1, V H Figure 4 is atransverse sectional View particu larlyshowing the forming knife, v U

FigureS-is a detail plan view of the tension a front elevation sectionalview on the lever for the follower spring of the device, and

Figure 6 is a detail plan view of the ejector spring employed.

Incarrying the invention into effect, I employ a flat substantiallysemi-circular lobate base 10 having a base" flange 11 at its perimeter,and pro-. jecting from said flange, flush 'with the upperface of thebase, are equi-distantly spaced radial.

ears 12. At a point midway of the concave portion of the front edge ofthe base, the flange 11 is thickened to form a boss 13 and dependingfrom said flan e, at the front lobesjof the base; are L'- shapedbracketsl4. As shown'in'the drawings,

the base is adapted to rest flatupon a table or the, like with thebrackets 191 abuttingithe adjacent edge of the table so' that themidpoint of the ,con-

cave portion ofthe frontedg of the base will be flush with the adjacentjedge of the table, and

screwed through said brackets are clamp screws and incidentalfobjects ofthe invention,'

for rigidly securing the base to the table.

thus employing'a pair of brackets to coactwith the edge'of the table atspaced points, skewing. of the base relative to the table will beobviated.

Overlying the base, in spaced parallel relation thereto, is a top plate16. This platejis 'offithe same shape as the base, being provided withears 1'? registering with the ears 12, and extending freely through theears of the top vplate. but screwed into'the ears of the base arewingbolts which, for convenience, have been indicated atfl8", 19 and 20.These bolts serve, of course, torigidly connect the top plate with thebase. Formed on the top plate 16, at its upper side, is'anup'standingmedially disposed boss 21 tapered toward the'mid'j point of the concaveportion of the front edgeof the base, and extending through the apex ofsaid boss 21 is a vertically disposed tubularl'post22. fixed at itslowerend in the boss '13 of the base. Fitted in the apex of the boss21,,at its forward edge, is a set screw 23 which impinges againstthel'post to secure the same in the top plate. h

Formed medially in the top plate 16 is .ajdiS: charge opening 24"andpivoted medially upon, the, post 22 is a substantially semi-circularforming knife 25 snugly but rotatably"accommodatedbe tween the top plateandthe base. '"As seen Figure 4ft'he knife '25 is pro'vided'with spacedpatty formingopenings26 and extending from r the forward edge of, saidknife 'is' an operating I lever 27 equipped at its outerend ,withf'anupstanding handle 28. In the present iristanceQI have shown theopenings] 26 "as being-,circular. However, the exact shapeof theseopenings may be varied as desired asmay also'the. size of the openingsin accordance with the sizeand weight of thepatty' which it is desiredto form. .(As shown-1firitFi 1 Q'2, the lwa11s of the openings 26 areinclined. downwardly, the 'diam'eterbfthe openingsbeing slightly greaterat, the bottom 'ofv the knife than at the top thereof so that meatpatties formed in said openings may be'readily dischargeddownwardlytherefrom. The"operi ings 26 are'of-the same diameter as the dis-.charge opening 24 and are so positioned that" when the lever '27 isswungto the right to en, gage the bolt18, as shown in Figure 4i,-one1of"the openings 26 will register with the discharge pass ing while, whenthe lever 27 is swung tothe left to engage ,the bolt 19, the'other; oftheopenings 26'will register with the discharge opening. bolts 18 and 19thus providestops for lir niting the movement of the formingplatei J5 At,the'upper end of the discharge opening, 24,. the boss21' of the topplate '16is recess'dtoproa brace the upper end with the wallofthe'hhpper to preventthe contents of the hopper from forcing itselfupwardly; past the follower, and screwed at its lower end into thefollower, centrally thereof, isaistm" 33 surrounding which is a spring34.. Slidable. on the post 22, as well as on the stern 3301' the fol-L"lower, is a tensioning lever 35- which is substantially T-shaped toprovide handles 36 at one, end.

of the lever while at its opposite end the" lever provided, as seeninFfigure S, with a semicircular fin 37. At one extreme; weaver carriesahardened bushing38 which freely receives thestem 33' therethrough while,at its opposite extremity, the lever carries a hardened bushing I 39whichfreely. accommodates the post 22.

by grasping the .1iandles 36 with the, fingers and. placing the-thumbsbeneath the fin 37 the lever may be rocked to a horizontal positionwhereupon itirnay be freely shifted downwardly along thepost 22 as wellas along the stem 33 of the followerjfor' compressing .the spring 34.Then,

tilting the lever tothe positionshown in Figure 2, the bushing 3'9 willbe caused to grip-the pest 22 for securing the lever in adjustedpositionand maintaining the tension of the spring.

Fixed at its ends to the "bolts 18 and 19 is a substantially V-shapedspring 40f bent at its ex- 7 tremities to provide'loo'ps' il' whichaccommo upper sideof the forming knife 25, theejctor tion that when theleverj27 isfswung to. abut the tov engage the ibolt 19, the ejectord'ate'fthe'bolts therethrdu'gh while at its ape nthe spring'i's bent "to'provide an eye 42. Thissp'ring carrie's'apup-shaped ejector 43 which ispreferably of skeleton construction,'andfconnecting the ejector with thespring is a bolt? which .extends through the eye 42"offtlie. spring and"is equipped at its upper end with a handle '45.

concave side "of the ejector is, particularly seeniriv Fi ure 2; pr'e'sentedtdownwardly and themajorfdiameter'foff said ejector. islslig'htlyless than the diameter. of "the openings .26 at the being supported by'the springj40 in such posib'olt18 the ejectorgwill be disposedovertonk'e bf the opemngs26'while, when; the lever is swung I willifb'edisposed over the other of. said openings. g

In use, the hopper 30 'i's filled .with'grund Vmeat, thefollower 32isdisposed'iwithinthe,

upper end of the 'hopper'and' the lever 35'- adjusted downwardly on thepost 22, as previously explained; for tensioning the spring 34. sonth'atthe spring will thus function to force the fol?! lower downwardly withinthe, hopper and'co'm pressthe meat. The concave face of the followerwill, of course, tend to'gatheri the meat tofitting sealing ring.

wardthe center of the follower and thus-overcome any tendency of theground meat to force past the edge of the follower, therebyeliminatingthe necessity for the use of any tight Thus, when the lever-27' of thegrmingknife. 25 is swung to the posi-V ,1 in Figure 4, so thatsaid leverabuts the bolt 18, the opening 26' of said knife 'disposedinregister with the discharge opening 24.

tion's able for tensioning. said spring,

memes of the top plate 16 will be filled with meat. When the lever 27 isnext swung to engage the bolt 19, the other of the openings 26 in theforming knife will be moved to a position in register with the dischargeopening 24 to be filled with meat while the filled opening will be movedto a position at the front of the machine beneath the ejector 43.Accordingly, by striking the handle 45 the ejector will be depressed fordislodging the meat from. the filled openingof the forming knife and, ofcourse, the meat so'dislodged will be in the form of a circular cake orpatty. Due to the fact that the ejector is of concavo-convexconstruction, the ejector strike the formed meat patty at its edge onlywhere it clings to the wall of the forming'bpeningof the knife. .Thethin edge of the pattyianot suflicientrto cause the patty to hang to theejector so that the dislodged patty freely' falls from the ejector,Thus, the forming knife 25 may be oscillated back and forth to deliverformed hamburger patties until the supply of meatin the hopper 30 isexhausted and, of course, tlie.lever"35 may be shifted downward- 1yfromjtimefto; time for'renewingthe tension on the spring 34 so that thefollower 32 will e f; fectively feed the meat supply into openings oftheformi'ng knife, f a a Havin thus described. the invention, I claim:

'1. 'A device oil the character described;includv ing a base, a hoppercarried thereby f'or containing a supply of material, means pivoted uponthe base to oscillate over the base' and under-the hopper andi'at' itslimit of movement in eitherdirection to receive a charge from thehopper,

and simultaneously deliv'era previouslyreceived chargelat a point ordischarge a follower fonth e material'within the hnpper, a springactingon the follower, and forv adjusting tension ingsaid spring. p r p2'. A device of'thecharacter described includ: ing a base, atop platecarried rthereby Jami. provided with a' discharge openinggapost upstanding from the base, a-hopper carried by the top plate to communicate withsaid, opening, a formingf knife pivoted upon'the -post, between thebaseandtop plate and provided with a pattyform; ingopening the knifebeingmovable-in one directicn to dispose said pattyIforming. opening inregister with said discharge opening-toreceive a predetermined quantityof material from.-the-hopcper and in; the opposite direction to,deliver: said quantity 'of material for use,:. a springrretractedejector movable to-dislodge said quantity of-fmaterial from said pattyforming opening after-litheforming knife, hasbeen shifted in thelattendi-l recuon, a follower for thegmaterial within thes;

hopper and provided with a stemeaispring surrounding said'stem, and alever mounted-ppon; the post to coactw-ith saidspring and adjust- 3." Adevice 'of' the. character described ing a 'baseja top plate carriedthereby, boltsf detachablyfconnecting the. top plate" with the base, thetop plate being provided with a discharge. opening, a hopper carried bythe top plate to (communicate with said opening, a forming. knife.pivoted. to oscillate! between the base and top plate andprovided with apatty, forming opening, the knife being movable in one direction todispose said pattyfforrning opening in,reg-- ister with said ,dischar'geI predetermined quantity fof material t im. the. hopper and .in theopposite, direction to ,de-j,

liver said quantityfof "inaterialffonuse, a ever? opening to receive acarried by the forming knife and engageable with said bolts selectivelyfor limiting the oscillatory movement of the knife, a spring carried bysaid bolts, and an ejector carried by said spring and movable todislodge said quantity of material from said patty forming opening afterthe knife has been shifted in said last-mentioned direction.

4. In a device of the character described, a base, a post upstandingtherefrom, a hopper, a follower, a spring for advancing the followerwithin the hopper, and means adjustable upon the post for tensioningsaid spring and angularly movable to grip the post for securing saidmeans in adjusted position.

5. In a device of the character described, a base, a post upstandingtherefrom, a hopper, a follower having a stem, a spring surrounding saidstem, and a lever adjustable upon the post for tensioning said spring toadvance the fol-,

lower and angularly shiftable to grip the post for locking the lever inadjusted position.

WALTER F. SHELGREN. [L. s.]

